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Tackling Transphobia One Cuticle At A Time

Charlie Craggs is the founder of Nail Transphobia, an organisation started in 2013, with a mission to create a society with more tolerance and acceptance for non-normative identities. As a trans woman herself, Charlie understand the difficulties facing trans people, who are often grossly underrepresented. Using nail art, Charlie is tackling transphobia one cuticle at a time.

Nail Transphobia is a pop-up salon that travels through the UK, all people are welcome to come to Charlie and get their nails done for free. This creates an opportunity for people to talk to, interact and get to know a trans person, something that many people never get to do. As Charlie points out, this can become dangerous, because people often fear what they do not understand. Charlie wrote on HuffPost that she had always known she was trans, but it took her a while to accept it, because the only representation of trans people she had been exposed to, was when they were being exploited in the media.

Reflecting on how difficult her own experience was, Charlie has decided to help others by creating solutions for some of the biggest issues facing the community at the moment. Proceeds from her events and sales of nail decals fund self-defence classes for trans women, who often face violence because of their identity. Although we live in a much more liberal society than years ago, Charlie highlights that hate crimes towards trans people are still on the rise in her home, London. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but Charlie is getting it done fabulously!

Had the cutest time nailing transphobia in Brighton …RIP to my satin shoes that got ruined in the rain 5 mins after this was taken tho pic.twitter.com/mf0lZ2VeaB